Cover Girl signed two new faces, and both are athletes: boxer Marlen Esparza, right, and beach volleyball player Jennifer Kessy, left. Kessy and Esparza will compete at the London Olympics this summer — and they make a bit of a change from the roster of actors, singers, and models who usually shill for Big Makeup. "You don't have to be famous to look good," says Esparza. "CoverGirl is celebrating the fact that beauty and femininity can come in so many forms," adds Kessy. "To be able to convey this to girls and women is a very good feeling." [People]

Miranda Kerr and her 15-month-old son Flynn posed for the cover of the Australian tabloid Who. It is Flynn's first professional magazine shoot. There is no word on what Kerr et famille were paid. [HuffPo]

Paul Marciano, the C.E.O. of Guess, took the stand yesterday in the ongoing civil case brought by Gucci over alleged knock-offs. Marciano denied that his company had ever intentionally copied Gucci's products. He contends that Guess had every right to use beige fabric woven with interlocking "G"s in dark brown, trimmed with red and green, in shoes and handbags. "This kind of pattern is common in the world of fashion and it's not particular to Gucci," Marciano said. "What I understand here, which is very frequent [in fashion], is an inspiration to create an original bag of G's with the same components. That's what design is." But Gucci's lawyers confronted Marciano with damning emails he'd exchanged with a supplier, Marc Fisher Footwear, discussing such things as cease-and-desists received by Marc Fisher from Adidas, Jimmy Choo, Coach, and Yves Saint Laurent, and the sending of Gucci fabric samples to Guess's own fabric supplier, allegedly for copying. Developing. [WWD]

American Apparel had a good March — at least in comparison to the dismal March of 2011. Year-on-year, same-store sales at the chain rose 20%, and overall sales were up 15%, to $49 million. The first quarter of 2011 marked the nadir of a two-year-plus sales slide at the troubled retailer, which has drawn the attention of the Justice Department for its shoddy financial controls and accounting, and which faces continued worries over its high-interest debt. [WWD]

Natalie Portman used some kind of family numerology to determine that the Dior lipstick shade number 169 should have its proceeds benefit the Free the Children foundation. [WWD]

W is a big winner in National Magazine Award nominations, but then who's counting, right? [Fashionologie]

In the mid-1980s, Tommy Hilfiger was a young freelance designer trying to make it in New York when he happened to have two important meetings in one week. One was with Calvin Klein, who was hiring, and the other was with a man named Mohan Murjani, who was looking for a label to invest in. First, Klein offered Hilfiger the job. "I told Calvin I was going to take the job on a Thursday. Mr. Murjani offered to back me on a Friday, so I called Calvin on a Monday and told him, ‘I'm not taking the job, I'm going into competition with you.' He laughed and hung up the phone. And here we are 26 years later." [WWD]

Vibram, the company that makes the most hideous shoes in the world, says it will defend the lawsuit filed against it for allegedly making misleading scientific claims in its ads. Last year's "scientific" fad shoe, the "toning" shoes endlessly promoted by interests including Skechers, Reebok, and the Kardashians, was the subject of similar lawsuits. And lost. [WWD]

Decades, the pricey Los Angeles vintage store, is the subject of a new reality series that just got picked up by Bravo. [WWD]

Macy's Herald Square flagship store was evacuated yesterday afternoon during a basement fire that spread to the first floor before being brought under control by the fire department. [NBC]

Alice + Olivia, which just launched a store in San Francisco, is looking to open stores in "Boston, Miami, and all the major cities," says founder Stacey Bendet. [WWD]

Tom Ford is — horrors! — opening an outlet store. Which you still won't be able to afford. [Lucky]

Ann Inc. C.E.O. Kay Krill received a total pay package of $10.8 million last year, a 4.5% increase over her 2010 compensation. [WWD]

And now, a moment with Stella McCartney, on nepotism:

"I never intentionally thought to use it. At the same time, I didn't shy away from it. I was just kind of quietly up-front about it. My first show, I used famous models, and my thinking about that was other people in my situation would probably use those models if they knew them, so why would I go out of my way to not use them? Because I did think maybe I should not do that. But in the end I decided that's a bit strange — I'm not doing something I would naturally do because I'm worried that some people are going to make a negative judgment about me."